


In Deep Water

by analester



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Fish Death, Fluff, M/M, Pining, petstore employee phil lester, rest in peace fish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 18:44:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11652468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/analester/pseuds/analester
Summary: prompt by tumblr user koganelovesmcclain: could you do a “My friend is out of town and I’m supposed to be taking care of his pet fish but it died and you work at the pet store help me find one that looks the same so he won’t notice" ? (Preferably, Phil working at the pet store.) It can turn into something cute and fluffy, whatever is fine. <3





	In Deep Water

_Fuck,_ Dan thinks as he rushes past people down the pavement, _Fuck, fuck, shit, fuck._

He stops running when he arrives at the pet store and he pauses to think over how he got there in the first place - and admittedly to catch his breath from all of the energy he exerted from getting here.

He remembers running his fingers through his already messy bed hair, his eyes running anxiously in front of the fish bowl. 

He remembers the fish, upside down and lifeless, barely floating on top of the water. 

One of his closest friends left him this fish to watch over while they were enjoying their time out of town. Dan accepted because surely he could manage to remember to feed the stupid fish every other day and clean the tank when it gets dirty. Today he found that he couldn’t even do that, which is why he found himself standing in front of the pet store, one arm holding a bowl with an upside down fish inside, and the other clutching his chest in attempt to steady his breathing.

He pushes open the door, the bell letting those in the store that a customer had arrived. Dan almost lets out a laugh because usually, that ring would be caused by a person with good intentions like a kid that finally convinced their parents that they were finally responsible enough for a pet, or an adult that thought that they deserved a companion to keep themselves happy. That bell should definitely not be ringing for a person who wants to replace a dead goldfish with a replica to prevent the event of confessing such a thing to his dear friend.

Once Dan feels his breath even out, he tries his best to pull on a calm, collected face as he walks towards the counter. No one is standing there, so he blows his fringe from his face and looks around anxiously for the nearest employee. 

“Hang on, I’ll be out in a minute!” calls a voice from the back of the store. Dan laughs to himself as he hears a series of crashes and clattering sounds. Out from the back room stumbles a lanky, 6-foot-two-tall man, fringe askew as he tries to balance himself.

“Jesus, are you okay?” Dan asks, putting the fishbowl on the counter and reaching out a hand to help the fallen employee. 

“Oh, my name’s Phil actually, not Jesus,” Phil laughs as he replies, but reaches to grab Dan’s hand anyways.

“I’m tempted to let go solely because of that horrible joke,” Dan rolls his eyes exaggeratedly, trying to keep the growing smile off of his face.

Dan looks up to meet Phil’s eyes, slightly taken aback at how gorgeous this awkward employee is now that has a proper view of him. 

The man’s hair is obviously dyed as his eyebrows were a mousy brown, but the darkness in his hair contrasts perfectly with his pale skin that makes Dan so interested to keep checking Phil out. Phil’s eyes sparkle under the poorly lit store, the light catching the few specks of green and yellow. The light seems like it’s enhancing the colour, making into a vivid, controlled mess. As Dan’s eyes travel down Phil’s face, he takes note of how _sharp_ his face really is. His cheek bones stand out prominently and his jawline’s so sharp it could cut a person. His eyes follow down the rest of Phil’s body before he realises that not only has been holding Phil’s hand the entire time he was checking Phil out, he was also very obviously checking Phil out.

Phil coughs to bring Dan’s attention back to his face, their eyes locking again, pink tinted in their cheeks. 

“S-sorry,” Dan says, pulling his hand away and placing it on the fishbowl, “My name’s Dan by the way.”

“Don’t worry about it, Dan,” Phil smiles, “So, what can I help you with?” 

Dan giggles and his blush darkens, “This is a bit weird, and kind of mean, but bare with me, okay?” 

He watches as Phil nods and he takes a deep breath as if he was about to say the most dramatic monologue ever. 

“So, my friend is out of town and I’m supposed to be taking care of his pet fish, but it died and you work at the pet store, so can you please help me find one that looks the same so he won’t notice?” Dan asks, not pausing once to see Phil’s reaction. He expected Phil to react by slowly backing away from the counter and pushing another employee out to help deal with the crazy customer. What he didn’t expect was for Phil to start burst out laughing so loud that it could be heard throughout the whole pet store.

The birds in their cages jump and flutter their wings in panic at the sudden loud noise, while the hamsters and guinea pigs run for their lives and hide under their plastic castles. Dan watches with wide eyes as Phil clutches his stomach, falling once again to the floor, one hand holding onto the counter to keep himself from falling completely as he makes garbled noises and wheezes. 

“H-hey, this isn’t funny,” Dan tries to keep himself from laughing as he watches Phil become literally paralysed with laughter.

“I’m- Pfffffffft I’m sorry,” Phil manages to say between snickers, “I can’t believe you’re going through all this trouble for a dead fish.” He gestures to the fishbowl and lets out a good, solid laugh before calming down. He peers into the fishbowl to observe the upside down fish, taking note of the colour and detail. 

“Oh, the poor guy,” Phil mutters to himself as he walks from the counter, making Dan stifle a chuckle, “Don’t worry though, I’m not judging you _that_ harshly because you can’t take care of a fish.”

Dan feels like he should be insulted, but the pretty employee is walking to get the fish and he is presented with a beautiful view of Phil’s ass. He probably shouldn’t keep looking, but he finds he’s having a hard time caring. 

When Phil comes back, he’s holding an identical looking fish in a plastic bag. Dan’s eyes lighten up and he smiles gratefully at Phil as he takes the bag from him. Phil types in the fish’s information and takes Dan’s bank card when he hands it to him. 

“Is it okay if I open it now and put the fish in the bowl?” Dan asks.

Phil lets out another giggle, “I wouldn’t when the other fish is in there.”

Feeling his cheeks heat up, Dan replies, “Oh, right.”

His eyes follow as Phil reaches into the bowl, picking the poor fish up and disappearing into the bathroom.

“Dan! Come in here!” 

Dan raises an eyebrow but goes to the bathroom anyways, shocked when he sees the dead fish floating in the fishbowl. He turns to Phil, his eyebrows raised in confusion and mouth slightly agape as he waits for an explanation.   
  
“We’re having a funeral,” Phil says confidently, and Dan has to smile at how utterly adorable and unnecessarily caring Phil is being. “Do you have anything to say?”

The room is silent apart from the chirping of the birds from outside of bathroom, making Dan feel even more inclined to come up with something heartfelt, even if he didn’t give two flying fucks about the fish in the first place. 

“Uh,” Dan starts, “I guess it was a pretty good fish. I wasn’t sure if it was male or female, but it never bothered me and was always quiet which was nice. These past few days didn’t feel any different when they came into my life, but I guess it improved my life?”

“Dan, you’re not even trying,” Phil jokes, but accepts Dan’s eulogy anyways. They share another moment of silence before Phil moves to flush the toilet. “May your friend’s fish rest in peace.”

The toilet flushes and they watch as the fish swirled down the toilet. Dan admits, this fish funeral was a bit depressing, even if it lasted about 5 minutes. He follows Phil out of the bathroom and back to the counter to finish paying for the new fish. It’s kind of a crappy thing to do; replacing his friend’s fish with one that looks similar so he wouldn’t know that Dan is actually an irresponsible human that can’t keep a fish alive. He’s ridden with guilt as Phil opens the new bag and pours the new fish into the bowl. Dan can’t tell the difference between the old and new one, so he establishes he can get away with this and pushes his guilt far back into his mind. 

“Thank you for helping me,” Dan says when Phil hands him the receipt. 

“Yeah, no problem,” Phil smiles, “I hope I can see you around Dan.”

Dan almost melts as Phil smiles warmly, cheek bones managing to stick out even more. Dan lifts the fishbowl from the counter and turns around to leave. He walks home with a lazy smile on his face, feeling buzzed from his interaction with Phil. He wishes that he wasn’t too shy and awkward to ask for his number, but if all else fails, he guesses he could just go back to the pet store and unskilfully hover around the store until Phil approaches him. 

When Dan arrives home, he sets the fishbowl on the table and empties his pockets. He’s about to throw the receipt from the pet store away when he sees something scrawled on the back. He unravels the crumpled receipt and finds himself blushing as he reads it:

_You were by far the most interesting (and cutest) customer I’ve had in a while. Call me xx_

Beneath the message is Phil’s number and Dan traces the number with his thumb. He walks away from the trash can and pulls out his phone, quickly typing in Phil’s number and saving the contact. He taps the call button before he could convince himself to not and Phil answers within two rings. 

“Took you long enough!” Phil laughs from the other side of the line. 

“I can’t believe how you got away with this,” Dan says, “How did you even manage?” 

“I have my ways,” Phil replies coyly, “Anyways, I’m off in like two hours. Would you like to go out and get dinner with me?”

Dan breaks out into a huge grin, his face almost hurting within a matter of seconds, “I’d love to.”

“Great! I’ll see you in couple hours then. Bye, Dan.”

“Bye, Phil.”

As they hang up, Dan falls into a chair, holding his phone to his chest and sighing to himself because he somehow managed to catch a date and get away with a plan that kind of made him a bad friend. He knows that karma might come back to bite him in the arse, but right now he didn’t care because he had a date with a hot employee from the pet store, and honestly, he’s kind of glad that his friend’s fish died. 


End file.
